Nightmares and Broken Dreams
by dashboardconfessions
Summary: Glimmer is not the perfectly provocative girl that she pretends to be in the Capitol. This is the story of how she and Marvel met on the night before the reaping. Oneshot.


Deep breath in. Breathe out. She looked at herself in the mirror, tried to find something wrong with her reflection. People always told her that she was pretty, and she was. She could see the beauty too. Long, wavy blonde hair. Blue eyes as deep as the ocean. Plump pink lips. Tan skin. The exact image of perfection. A small smile tugged at her lips as she watched herself, but then she frowned. What was she doing? Was she making a mistake? No, she wanted this. If she didn't, she wouldn't have come here with him.

Outside the bathroom, she could hear the television declaring the 74th Annual Hunger Games reapings to begin tomorrow, with District 1 kicking it off at 8:30 that morning. She listened as the snakelike voice of President Snow hissed through her ears, telling her that tomorrow her life was going to be in the Capitol's hands. It was a frightening thought, knowing that her name could easily come out of that bowl just like any other girl's in District 1. But she knew that if her name was drawn, she would give up her life in District 1 in an instant in order to fight in the Games. That's how she was raised. She knew no other way.

"Rely on your beauty, dear," her mother always told her. "Those sponsors will be fighting each other trying to get you supplies for the arena."

She heard the television click off, and she knew that he was waiting on her. She tried to find courage to walk out of the bathroom in her red, lacy lingerie, but she knew that if she walked out now, there was no turning back. The decision would be made. She leaned over the sink, looked at her reflection again, and told herself to be strong. Everyone expected this out of her. She was the most beautiful girl of her age. Everyone was jealous of her. She was supposed to give boys what they wanted because that's what beautiful girls did. They got the boys.

"Glimmer, is everything okay in there?" he asked.

Her hands were shaking. Her heart was pounding against her chest. She felt like she was breathing through a straw. She brushed her hair away from her face and looked one last time in the mirror. "You've been dating him for a year now," she told her reflection. "It's okay. You're in love." That calmed her enough to be able to answer him. "Yes, I'm fine. I'll be out in a second."

Tristan Valentino. That was the name of the boy who was outside the bathroom waiting for her. His father was a fashion designer. His mother worked for the furniture factory. When she had first met him, she knew that it was fate that they be together. She loved fashion and cute boys, and she got both of those from being around him. And he liked beautiful girls, so he stuck around with her. Beautiful people were meant to be together. It was a known fact. So why was she so terrified?

"Suck it up, Glimmer," she told herself. "Tristan loves you. And you love him. You're beautiful. And beautiful people are supposed to be this way."

She had mustered enough courage to throw back the bathroom door and lean seductively against the frame, but once she was there, her breathed caught in her throat, and she thought that she might start crying. No, she couldn't do that. She was strong. She was brave. She could do this.

Tristan smirked as he climbed up from his bed and sauntered over to her. "You look…so sexy right now," he said as he planted a kiss on her lips.

"You don't look so bad yourself," she purred as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in closer for another kiss. It was coming more naturally now. She ran her hands through his silky black hair and along his face while his hands roamed all over her body. Why had she been so afraid a few minutes ago?

And then things started to get more intense. He had carried her over to the bed and was now stripping off his shirt and his pants and trailing kisses all over her body. She would be lying if she said that she did not enjoy it. Everyone expected her to be a pro at all this, but in reality, she wasn't. This was her first time. She just pretended to be provocative and slutty to get attention. It seemed to work for her.

But then she started getting scared again as his fingers traced up her thigh and reached for her underwear. She pulled away from their kiss and slapped his hand away. And then she realized what she had done. Tristan was looking at her like she was insane. What was she doing? She wasn't sure. She was so afraid and confused.

"I'm so sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine," Tristan replied as he kissed her roughly and started to trace her thigh again.

She pulled away once again. Her heart was racing. She felt hot. Her blood was speeding through her veins. She almost felt like she was going to be sick. She wasn't ready for this. "Tristan, I don't think I can do this." She climbed up from underneath him and pulled herself into a sitting position. "Now's just not the time."

Tristan frowned, and he no longer looked like the perfect, godlike boy that she had fallen in love with. His brown eyes were filled with confusion and rage. She shouldn't have been scared of him, but she was. He looked like he could easily kill her right now.

"That's strange," he said. "You've been promising me for the past two months that you would do this on our one-year anniversary. You don't break promises, do you, Glimmer?"

His hand was inches away from her leg, and it was twitching like he would love to hit something right now. She bit her lip and tried to shrink into a small ball against the headboard of the bed. She had to get out of here. "I don't want to break a promise, but I just don't think I can do this, Tristan. You have to understand that." She leaned forward to kiss him, but he moved out of her way.

"You've done it plenty of other times," he said. "What's wrong with this time?"

Glimmer was caught off guard. She had almost forgotten that she was a virgin. She went along every day of her life completely lying about all the guys that she sleeps with, because that's what made girls envy her. When other girls couldn't even get one boy to look their way, Glimmer could have them all. But it was all a total lie. She wished now that she hadn't lied for attention. Who would believe the truth now?

"I just can't, Tristan," she said, getting up from the bed. Where were her clothes? They were probably in the bathroom. This was all so terribly awkward and painful. She walked across the room to the bathroom and found her shirt and pants were right where she had left them. She grabbed them and carried them back into Tristan's room, where she began stepping into her pants and pretending that Tristan wasn't there.

The next thing she knew, she was pinned up against the wall, with Tristan's hands pressing on her waist and his lips on her throat. "I don't like people who break promises, Glimmer," he said as he planted another rough kiss on her lips.

Glimmer could honestly say that she had never been more scared in her life. She was afraid that perhaps Tristan wasn't going to stop. She didn't want to be here right now. She could no longer see the boy that she had fallen in love with. As seconds, long seconds, ticked by, she could see that he was turning into a monster. He was just like all of the other boys in District 1.

"Tristan, stop," she tried to say, but the words were caught in her throat, and she was gasping for breath and trying to push him away, but he only held her tighter. She tried to speak louder, begging him to stop and let her go home, but it was as if he wasn't even listening to her. He was reaching for her pants, trying to take them off, and she let out a scream and tried once more to push him away. It didn't work.

"Don't fight it," he growled as he kissed her again. "You know you want it."

There were tears streaming down Glimmer's face now. Why had being popular seemed so important to her? Why did she lie about who she really was just to get attention? This was karma, getting her back. She shouldn't have lied. She shouldn't have…

Something exploded inside of her. Anger? Fear? Something strong that propelled her forward, helped her push Tristan off of her and rush out of the room. As she ran down the hallway, she threw on her shirt and tried to get into her boots, but it wasn't working. Tristan was screaming after her, telling her to come back, that he loved her, but the words meant nothing to her. She rushed out the front door, barefoot, into the pouring rain.

She felt dirty, like she could take ten showers and still not be able to clean herself of the experience. It was slowly starting to sink into her brain what had truly just happened. She could have been raped. By her boyfriend. More tears streamed down her face as the rain pounded down on her and mud squished between her toes. She didn't even care where she was going anymore. She just had to get as far away from Tristan as possible.

She ran into something so hard that she toppled backwards onto the ground right into a puddle, splattering mud everywhere. As if she didn't already feel dirty enough. She wiped away her tears and started to get up, but she noticed that someone's hand was outstretched toward her, offering her help. It was a boy, about her age, with brown hair and kind brown eyes. She didn't want to be around any boy right now. They were all horrible. But she took his hand anyway and allowed him to help her up.

"Thank you," she said, her voice shaking. She was still fighting back tears, and she was soaked to the bone now. She needed to get home very soon.

"You're welcome," the boy said. He was staring at her strangely, like he wanted to say something else, but she didn't want to stick around and hear it. As she took a step away from him, he asked, "Aren't you Glimmer? From school?"

Lovely. He knew her name. What had he been told about her? That she was a filthy slut? That she would sleep with him if only he just asked? "Yes," she answered. "I'm Glimmer."

The boy smiled, which worried her because she knew what was coming next. A pick-up line that she would pretend worked on her. "I'm Marvel. I was in a class with you last year." Or not.

Certainly he was different than all of the other boys she had ever met. But she did not want to be around him right now. Home. That was the only place she wanted to be. "I remember," she said, even though she didn't. "But I really have to go now. I need to get home."

Marvel had moved closer to her so that his umbrella was covering her as well. "Are you okay? You look like you just got mugged or something." He pushed her wet, blonde hair out of her face and ran his finger over a spot over her eye. She flinched. There must have been a cut or something there from where she had struggled to get away.

"Or something," she replied, pulling away from him. No one was ever allowed to touch her ever again. She had decided that. She was going to remain by herself for the rest of her life. "Listen, I really have to go-"

"By yourself at night?" Marvel asked, raising an eyebrow at her. "Not a chance. You already got hurt. The least you can do is let me walk you home."

I can handle myself, she wanted to say. But that would just be another one of her many lies. She obviously could not handle herself. She couldn't even defend herself against her own boyfriend. So she managed a nod, but refused to meet his eyes as she said, "Sure. Thanks."

They walked in silence for most of the way. Marvel didn't ask anymore questions about what might have happened to her, and she really appreciated that. The last thing she needed was to answer questions. And he didn't even say anything when she burst into tears and started shaking all over. He simply took off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders, and then continued walking.

_This is unreal. No guy has ever offered to walk me home without expecting a kiss or more in return_, she thought. But as soon as they reached the fence surrounding her property, all Marvel said was, "Now at least I know that you got home safely. I hope you feel better. We have a big day tomorrow."

Glimmer nodded and sniffled. She didn't feel like she could cry anymore. There was no sense in it. It wouldn't solve anything. But she did feel slightly better now. "Thanks, again. You really didn't have to do this." She opened the gate to her yard and started to go in, but then she turned back to him and started to take off the jacket. "Here you go. Thank you for letting me wear it."

"Keep it," Marvel said. "It's no big deal."

Glimmer smiled a little and walked inside the gate, shutting it behind her and waving to Marvel. She pulled the hood of the jacket over her head, though she did not see the point since her hair was already wet. She just didn't want to get wet anymore. It was freezing, and she was still scared out of her mind.

With good reason, too. When she reached the porch, she saw that Tristan was waiting there for her. He must have headed straight for her house after she ran out. What was she supposed to say to him? She had nothing to say, except to get off her property and never speak to her again. Perhaps she could just walk inside and ignore him, and she would be safe for the night.

Not the case. "Who's the guy that walked you home, huh?" Tristan asked. "You get around fast, don't you? I don't even think we broke up, did we?"

Glimmer frowned and pulled the jacket tighter around her. "No, we didn't, but we're over now, Tristan, okay? And it doesn't matter who the boy is. At least he was kind enough to walk me home." She shot the dirtiest glare that she could manage at him and stepped toward the door, but he held out his hand to stop her.

"You know the only reason I dated you is because you're the biggest slut in District 1," he said.

The words stung. She had been so in love with Tristan, so in love with his father's fashion designs, so in love with everything, and now everything was shattering to pieces right in front of her. She couldn't think of anything clever to say. She wanted to curl up into a ball and cry for days.

But she didn't need to say anything, because Marvel was there in an instant. She hadn't even heard him come up. "Don't you dare ever call her a slut again," he said. "Did you ever even take time to get to know her?"

Tristan smirked and rolled his eyes. "Who cares about getting to know her? She'll do anything, just as long as you ask."

"That is not true!" Glimmer yelled. "I didn't let you do anything except kiss me for a year! And I've never ever done anything more than kiss with anyone!" There it was. Her secret was out.

But Tristan only laughed. "You're a great liar, Glimmer. That'll get you far one day. Now come on. After the reaping tomorrow, I'll take you out to brunch, and everything will be okay."

"No, everything will not be okay," Glimmer said. "We're over, Tristan. Done. You know what you did tonight. Now I suggest you leave my property."

Tristan raised an eyebrow at her and then glanced at Marvel, who was standing behind her and looking rather protective, though Glimmer could see that his hands were shaking. Tristan was bigger than Marvel. If he decided to lash out, Marvel would be picking himself up from the ground. For a long time, it looked as if that might happen, but Tristan finally left, muttering under his breath all the while about how he could find someone so much better than her anyway.

Glimmer let out a breath of relief. She wasn't sure what might have happened if Marvel hadn't shown up. He must have lingered close by for a little while longer to make sure that she got in safely. That was the kind of guy that she had always wanted.

"Thanks," she said. "I owe you a lot after tonight."

Marvel waved it off. "You don't owe me anything. Just trying to help a beautiful girl out."

Glimmer smiled. When other boys called her beautiful, it sounded like something that they said to every girl, like she wasn't the only one they had their eyes on. But when Marvel said it, it sounded so real, like he truly meant what he was saying to her. She couldn't help herself. She didn't want people to think that she moved around quickly, but…actually, who cared what people thought of her anyway? She placed a kiss on Marvel's cheek. "Thank you," she said again.

Marvel smiled at her and stepped off of her porch into the rain. "No problem. See you tomorrow morning then?"

"Yeah," Glimmer replied.

Her faith in humanity had been destroyed and restored within a matter of hours. She was not going to be some pretty little object for people to stare at. No, she was going to be something more.


End file.
